The father of a three-year-old girl at the center of a court battle over her Cherokee heritage will turn himself in to authorities Sunday after a warrant was issued for his arrest Friday.

Issued after Dusten Brown failed to show for a court-ordered custodial transition meeting, the arrest warrant has forced the man's hand and reports indicate he plans to turn himself in to authorities Sunday. This is just the latest development in a custody battle that has gone as far as the U.S. Supreme Court.

Brown is currently in Iowa, where he is training with the National Guard, according to reports.

Tug of war: Veronica, pictured with her biological father Dusten Brown, will return to her adoptive parents

Adopted parents: Matt and Melanie Capobianco were awarded custody of the girl they raised from birth

The warrant was issued by South Carolina officials for Custodial Interference, after Brown failed to transfer custody of Veronica July 31 and August 1, according to WCIV. Once the father surrenders, an extradition process is expected to begin almost immediately.

Robin Brown, Mr Brown's wife, has joined him in Iowa and plans to help him fight extradition, according to reports.

'Not only is the adoptive couple asking this child be ripped from her father while he is serving his country, they are also endangering his military career in the process,' a Cherokee Nation spokesperson told the Tulsa World, adding that issuing the arrest warrant was 'morally reprehensible and legally questionable,' saying all parties involved knew Brown was out of state at National Guard training.

'Just because they get Dusten doesn't mean they will get Veronica,' a defiant Mrs Brown told the paper.

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Brown has 20 days to file a motion in Oklahoma to stop the transfer of custody, according to media reports, though he does plan to abide by court orders.

Matt
and Melanie Capobianco, the baby's Charleston, South Carolina, adoptive parents, have said that the want Veronica back, but would like to avoid the process becoming traumatic.

Veronica initially grew up with the Capobiancos after her
biological mother Christy Maldonado decided to give her up for adoption to a non-Native American family.

Mr Brown, the girl's birth father, objected despite having signed away his rights to Miss
Maldonado, and sued for custody based on his Cherokee Nation ancestry.

In 2011 the Capobiancos were forced
to hand Veronica over to Mr Brown, who lives in Oklahoma, due to the
Indian Child Welfare Act - even though she is just two per cent
Cherokee.

Earlier this month, the state Supreme
Court ordered him to return the girl to her adoptive parents after the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law did not apply in this case.

Documents filed in court last month
and published by Tulsa World provide a detailed proposal on how Veronica
should be reintegrated with the Capobiancos.

Native American tribes across the U.S. see the case as a test of tribal sovereignty which could set a precedent for other adoptions

Veronica, her biological father Dusten Brown, feed their geese and ducks at his home in Oklahoma where she has lived for the past 19 months

She should be shown photographs of
her adoptive parents, who have not seen her for 19 months, while Mr
Brown should prepare a scrapbook of pictures and memorabilia to maintain
his link with his daughter after her adoption.

'He can plan a farewell celebration with his community, which should be done prior to the transition period,' the plan says.

The section headed 'What to tell the
child' includes: 'She can have a cookie at her adoptive parents' house.
Talk about games she can play when she gets there. Tell her she can
watch her favorite video or cartoon when she returns to the adoptive
parents' home.

'In language Veronica can understand,
help her realise she will be returning to the family she lived with
when she was a little girl, to help take care of her, to keep her safe,
to play with her, and to love her.'

During the week-long transition,
Veronica was to play with the Capobiancos and gradually see less and less
of Mr Brown, until they take her with them from Oklahoma to South
Carolina, according to the document.

Mr Brown was not to be allowed to see
her for two months after the move, although the two should be allowed to
speak on the phone once or twice a week.

In the middle: Veronica has been caught in an ongoing tug of war custody battle for most of her young life

Custody battle: Veronica, pictured above with biological father Dusten Brown has been at the center of a custody tug-of-war for her entire life

Lawyers for the father have
criticised the proposal, claiming it was drawn up by social workers who
do not know Veronica personally.

However, a lawyer for Miss Maldonado
told Tulsa World that it was much more humane than when she was
originally separated from the Capobiancos.

Mr Brown had never met his daughter and,
after the girl's non-Indian mother rebuffed his marriage proposal,
played no role during the pregnancy and paid no child support after the
girl was born.

Last month it was revealed that Miss Maldonadois suing the federal government, saying a law governing
the placement of Indian children is unconstitutional.

In her lawsuit, filed in
federal court in South Carolina, she asks U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder for a declaration that parts of the Indian Child
Welfare Act are illegal.

Those measures – which include a
preference for 'other Indian families' over prospective non-Indian
adoptive parents – should be abolished because the law uses race in
determining with whom a child should live and therefore violates equal
protection provisions, Miss Maldonado argued.

The act was passed in 1978 to reduce
the number of Indian children being removed from their homes by public
and private agencies and placed with non-Indian families.